Category: Reviews

  • Vacation Viewing – Seeing the night sky in Utah’s National Parks

    Last year my wife and I took a trip to Utah to visit several of the amazing National Parks in the Beehive State (fun fact – Utah’s state star cluster is, you guessed it, the beehive cluster). While hiking was the primary purpose of the trip, I knew the dark skies and desert scenery would make for some amazing views of the night sky. I was not disappointed. There is nothing quite like seeing the stars under a Bortle-2 sky (well, maybe a Bortle-1 sky). Knowing that I would be hiking to many of Read more […]
  • Stellarvue 80mm Achromatic Refractors

    Stellarvue 80mm Achromatic Refractors

    I own two achromatic Stellarvue telescopes, the 80/9D and the Nighthawk that I use for visual observation. Both have 80mm diameter doublet objective lenses, with the former having a focal length of 750mm (f/9.4) and the latter 480mm (f/6). I bought these telescopes as a complement to my first telescope, a Celestron 8 inch (f/5) reflector. The Celestron is a respectable moderate-aperture telescope suitable for observing rather dim and diffuse deep-sky objects, especially at dark sky sites or when you have plenty of time for set-up/tear-down and to let the temperature of the optical tube assembly reach equilibrium with the surroundings to achieve decent views. Read more […]

  • Siebert 1.3X Optical Corrector

    The Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST) is a wonderful way to look at the sun in Hydrogen-alpha, and has produced a legion of new “solar addicts” in the short time since its release. One of the limitations of this scope compared to Coronado’s higher end products was its inability to come to focus with binoviewers, even with fairly significant Barlowing. Read more […]

  • Web Wisdom: Telescope Buying Guides

    A brief synopsis of the conventional wisdom: Make sure you really want a telescope. Many beginning astronomers would be better served by a good quality binocular (7×50 or 10×50 are the types most often recommended). Read more […]

  • A Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST) & eyepiece shootout

    Saturday Jim Richberg and I got together with our Coronado Personal Solar Telescopes (PSTs). There were two tests we wanted to test: a side by side comparison of the two PSTs and to conduct a PST eyepiece shootout. Read more […]

  • RAYOVAC Sportsman 3-in-1 Head-Lite

    Not too often do we come across a very inexpensive piece of equipment that can make such a difference in the way we go about this wonderful hobby of ours. One of my least favorite aspects of the hobby is the drudgery of packing everything after an evening of stargazing. This is especially so during the months of January and February where it seems that Crockett Park is the coldest spot on earth. Read more […]

  • Test Driving the Orion 80 ED “Apo” f/7.5 Refractor

    This low-cost Chinese-made refractor has only been on the market nine months, but already it appears Orion’s new 80mm ED f/7.5 scope is a huge hit. Indeed, the Orion ED users yahoo group has grown from some 30 members in October 2003 to nearly 500 in May 2004 Read more […]

  • Orion XT10

    started looking for a new telescope to replace an ancient 4 ¼ Newtonian with an equatorial mount. My eyes drifted to those numerous wonderful goto scopes. But then I thought about how often I would be doing any photography. I also needed a telescope that was readily portable, fairly easy on a bad back and fit in a typical size car. Read more […]

  • AP/Baader Binoviewer

    I have the AP/Baader binoviewer (bv). Brought it from Company 7 last fall. Binoviewers are fun and are great for observing planets, the moon, and brighter OCs. There is a neat 3-D effect on OCs and brighter nebulas such as M41. I have used it in all 3 of my current scopes: the AP 130, 9.25″ SCT, and TV-85. Read more […]

  • Lowell and Mars written by William Graves Hoyt

    by Kevin Beamer I recently finished reading ‘Lowell and Mars’ by William Graves Hoyt, and I’d like to recommend it to anyone interested in the history of astronomy. The book is primarily focused on Percival Lowell’s theory that the canals that he saw on Mars were proof that intelligent life existed on that planet. Lowell’s theory, and the scientific and public debate surrounding it are covered in detail. ‘Lowell and Mars’ is really about much more. It begins by describing Lowell’s intense concerns Read more […]